Some have felt that Priscilla wrote it if so, this would be the first letter of the New Testament written by a woman. There have been many guesses throughout the centuries, including Luke, Silas, Peter, Apollos, Barnabas, and even Aquila and Priscilla. But if you read it in Greek you are equally certain that Paul did not write it, for the language used is different from the other letters of Paul. If you read this letter in English you are almost sure that Paul wrote it, since so many of the thoughts are obviously Pauline. It was a favorite jest in seminary to ask, Who wrote the Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews, no one knows for sure. In the King James version it says, The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews. No one knows for certain who wrote the letter, either. If anyone wished to influence the world of Jewish Christians, surely that would be the place to start. Others believe it was written to believers in Jerusalem. Some feel this letter was written to Hebrew Christians living in the city of Rome. No one knows exactly where these Christians lived. They felt it was not worthwhile they were losing too much, and that it was possible that they had been deceived and the message of Christ was not true after all. Some of them were about to abandon their faith in Christ, not because they were attracted again by Jewish ritual and ceremony, but because of persecution and pressure. Doubts were creeping into their hearts from some of the humanistic philosophies that abounded in the world of their day, as they abound in the world of our day. They had begun to drift into outward formal religious performance, and to lose the inner reality. They had lost all awareness of the relevancy of their faith to the daily affairs of life. It is addressed to a group of Jewish Christians who had begun to drift, to lose their faith. This is what the world is waiting to see and what the epistle was written to effect. That is the very theme of the book of Hebrews: How to make Christians believe. Then he asked the logical, but thorny, question: How can we make Christians believe what they believe? With a concerned look on his face, he said, Why doesn't the world believe what we have to say? Then he added, I think it's because so many Christians don't act like they believe it themselves. The question arose: What can we do about this? As Christians, they knew the answer to the world's problems, but the problem was: How to make the world believe the answer? Among them was a young Christian who was troubled by the discussion. They commented on the fears, the tensions, the sense of futility that prevails in so many circles these days. A group of Christians were gathered in a home discussing the state of affairs of the world.
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